And now it's all over, and the second year of Steampunk Donny went down wonderfully well, with a whole range of workshops, activities, stalls, acts and more over two days. As if that wasn't enough, the event raised lots of money for local charity, and indeed event venue, the Doncaster Deaf Trust, currently celebrating its 185th anniversary!The hallowed halls of the Deaf Trust made a fitting venue, presenting plenty of space for both outdoor and indoor shenanigans. The market was where I spent most of my time, as fellow author Steven C. Davis and I were sharing a stand and hosting a couple of daytime events - a workshop and a reading. The trouble with steampunk markets, as always, is that there is always too much to spend your money on, and this was no exception. It was great to see friends amongst the traders too, such as Amy the Wonder Dog from Amy's Steampunk Emporium, who was a firm favourite amongst the traders. Oh yes - Darren and Sarah were there with Amy too! (Sarah even took a couple of our books with her as props as she did a bit of catwalk modelling!)

On Saturday evening, there was also music - supplied firstly by beardy maestro Dale of BB Blackdog, doing a solo acoustic set, with some cracking covers of rock songs. After an athletic turn by pole dancer Scarlett Butterfly, Crimson Clocks took the stage - hope you enjoyed the set, if you were there, because we certainly enjoyed playing!We were also filming a video for our song 'Shadow' at the event - or more to the point, we were getting our listeners to film it for us, with a shot of themselves included! Please send clips to us at CrimsonClocks@CrimsonClocks.com, or post them on our facebook page - thanks!After a short breather - it was a VERY hot night - Montague Jacques Fromage rounded off the evening with some steampunk funk. Absinthe, Sacre Bleu!And then it was Sunday, and time for more workshops, more fashion shows, more photographic extravaganzas, more bartitsu, more nerf gun shoot-outs.... basically, more things than you can possibly shake an elegant cane at.Big thanks to Stu 'Mr Stu' Tovell for orchestrating the night entertainments, including sound engineering and more, to his lovely wife Chelle for all her support, to Nathan and Candice for stall minding at various points, to everyone for being generally marvellous, and in particular, to Tony and Candice for a fabulous, well-run weekend.Right, when's the next one??

The Automata Wars. Not just a range of extremely entertaining* books. Not just a stirring tale of man vs machine, with a smattering of sex, violence, gore, violence, killer robots and violence. Now a range of accompanying accessories...

…. that's right, you too can feel safe as you sport a pendant made from the unique black ore, mined down below, under the city...

… you too can sport a war trophy – an automaton's eye, for example, its mechanism sprung so that it is now harmless, and safe for you to wear as an indication of your fighting efficacy.

The range launches with a small selection of bracelets, necklaces and chokers, earrings, cravat pins and cufflinks. Each item is accompanied by a quote from the novels. And they will be available for the first time exclusively at Steampunk Doncaster. this weekend.

Future ranges will include service medals, medals for valour, service dog tags, brooches and more! And if you're not at Steampunk Doncaster, then whyever not?? There's so much going on there - from Crimson Clocks performing and the chance to be in one our our videos, to readings and workshops from Mr Steven C. Davis and I representing The Last Line and Tenebrous Texts, plus BB Blackdog, Montague Jacques Fromage, Scarlet Flame, and a whole host more - and there's still time to get your tickets. If you can't make it, at least you can catch a glimpse of the aforementioned Automata Wars shinies in the photies above... Can you afford not to be protected. Make sure you have YOUR black ore about your person... remember – they walk amongst us! #AutomataWars. *That's what my mum says.

In less than two weeks time, it will be midsummer, and I will be at Steampunk Doncaster 2014 - Tiffin in the Park, for a weekend of fun and frivolities.As revealed a few weeks ago, Crimson Clocks will not only be playing on the evening of Saturday 21st June as part of the event, we will also be recording a video! Or more to the point, as discussed in my earlier blog, you will! We hope.Since it will be the longest day, it makes perfect sense that we have elected Shadow as the track we want to video. In Shadow, I sing about needing to develop a darker, more malevolent side - building a new shadow, because mine's not big enough. Think about using a potion to unleash your inner Mr Hyde, building your very own Frankenstein's monster, or unleashing a deadly virus that changes everything... and once you've immersed yourself in your inner darkness, we'd like you to use your mobile phones, videos, cameras, whatever you have to hand to capture footage of us playing the song, and of you listening to it, in your best full-on shadow mode. Then please send your clip to us via CrimsonClocks@CrimsonClocks.com, and we will stitch them all together to the original tune (so don't worry about capturing sound!), casting a shadow over allll of.And voila! You - or your darker shadow - get to appear in - and film - our video! What could be better?To get you in the mood, you can read the full lyrics to Shadow below, and of course you can listen to it - and purchase the download if you're so inclined - via our bandcamp page.

Don't forget, you can also catch Steven C. Davis and I during both days of Steampunk Doncaster with book readings and our infamous Hobbit: Steampunked workshop. And if you can't wait til then, you can also hear a few readings on the three hour GASP radio special of Tuesday 10th June (repeated Saturday 14th). We'll see you - and your shadow - soon...

This week I have been mostly doing lots of research for my next essay in my Masters degree (all about changes in women's education from 1900 to 1944, and very interesting, and slightly disturbing research it is too!). This means that I have almost let this week escape blog-free!Oh no. That will never do.For your delectation, may I present, in lieu of this week's blog, 'Laser Death Eye Kitteh' (aka The Beast).

Author

I'm a writer of steampunk/ fantasy fiction, singer/musician and writer at LM Cooke Music, singer in the parody band Mediaeval Biaetches, occasional historian, and co-presenter of the Gothic Alternative Steampunk and Progressive web radio show. Here I will ramble vaguely about stuff. Friends, countrymen, and people who aren't countrymen, lend me your ears...